I've been quite fond of my LED bulbs--I just hate the cost. IIRC I spent something like $70 to buy (4) BR30 bulbs. Unless the ballast fails, these should last a lifetime--but then again, why would a manufacturer want to make parts that last.
CFL tech makes little sense now that LED is available.
The law was not well intentioned--the gov't literally misinformed the public about all the risks and It forced it to move to the market flubbing CFL bulbs that were dim, slow to warm up, couldn't work on dimmers, and failed well before their expected lifespan--not to mention they were incredibly overpriced as well as BIOLOGICALLY and PHYSICALLY HAZARDOUS!
all under the wild and false assertion that the govt was saving us from ourselves so that a few rich people could get even richer through coercion.
there was nothing well intentioned behind the law.
That last statement is truly ridiculous. The government funded cancer research of the last fifty years allowed drugs to be tried which, in the end, didn't save lives. Was that a waste? Was that not well intentioned? If we found better ways in the end to treat disease, then the research was a success. A very well known audio designer, Henry Kloss, once said (paraphrasing), "Of course, I don't know what I'm going to find. That's why they call it research!"
Many laws and regulations have inherent self interests designed into them. Look at the bankruptcy laws which were passed and still gave the banks (who were funding the people passing the regulations) several years to come up with ways around the regulations. By the time a law is on the books and going to happen, the industrialists have had their lawyers working 'round the clock to figure out how to beat the law. Drive out to West Texas and look at all the electric power lines and "modern conveniences of life" which exist there where you can drive for 30 minutes and not see another car on the road. They were put there by LBJ who sincerely thought improving people's life was the function of government but getting the funding for the project also served to get him re-elected numerous times.
The whole bash the government schtick is just dumbed down thinking. We blame government and ignore the manufacturer of poor or even defective parts. If the government is reported to have done something which can be viewed in a negative light, we get all up in arms. If a manufacturer designs a product which leaves out a five cent part and several dozen or even several hundred people die as a result, we don't seem to blame big business. The self interest of selling and buying something at the cheapest cost appears to drive a lot of business today. Then the consumer will b*tch when cheap products don't live up to their expectations - see this very thread for a fer-instance.
Simply look at the manufacturers of the CFL's and consider their alternatives. They were given several years notice to make design changes. It's not like tomorrow they had to have all new stuff.
They made the decision to sell CFL's, not the government. The government simply put in place future regulations and then left it up to the "free market" to decide how to respond. The inefficiencies of the $0.60, 60 watt incandescent lamp were not suddenly recognized one day in 2007. Most bills and regulations take months if not years to get through committees and floor votes. Then it may take several more years for the laws and regulations to take effect, as with the light bulb efficiency standards. In the intervening years, the manufacturers decided how they wanted to sell and what they wanted to sell. To blame government for their actions is a bit like blaming the camera manufacturers for you not knowing how to take a decent photograph.
If you really, really wanted to not buy CFL's, you as a consumer had ample opportunity to stock up on incandescent lamps. In the years since the legislation passed, you could have purchased a sufficient number of incandescent lamps to last well into your grandchildren's life time. No one from the government held a gun to your head and said you had to buy a CFL in 2010. The government didn't advertise the money saving features of the CFL lamp. The manufacturer's did. And many people bought them thinking they would be saving a few bucks and then ignored the label for usage. Technology changes and everyone expects technology to remain static and then they complain when it does not.
The desire to always blame someone else for what the individual and the manufacturing industry are doing is bizarre to me. Government has regulations which say protect your and your neighbor's children from drowning in your swimming pool. I've got more than a few neighbors who see that as big government over reach. Wear a seat belt. How long did people resist that just because they were not going to be told by government how to save their own life? Wear a motorcycle helmet. How many quadriplegics are we paying to keep on 24/7 care when, if they had simply worn a helmet and acted responsibly, they wouldn't have been in the same situation?
I'm not a government apologist but I'm also not someone who runs to blame government when the blame actually exists elsewhere.
